7 thoughts on “I Couldn’t Help Myself”

What makes this so crazy to me is wondering why there’s such a huge ideological difference between white men vs women and men of colour. I can think of lots of contributing factors but honestly? It’s mindblowing to me that the difference in political views would be so strong.

White men have traditionally been the beneficiaries of policies that are unfair against women and minorities. Their vantage point point on these issues would be hugely different to women and minorities (perhaps even unknowingly). They probably don’t understand why women and minorities differ so much from their view either.

I definitely get that, and I know that those factors are hugely in play. Historically I’d agree that there were huge benefits to just being white, and just being male. Those two things are still huge in how we get by in the world and what privileges are given to us. It has to be more than that though.

Not every white man is in the sort of socio-economic bracket that would actually benefit (financially, at least) from Republican policies, in fact I’d venture to say that a large percentage of that demographic would be better served by policies that are more forgiving to the working class and the poor. Which still leaves me with the question of what gives with the difference.

Many factors go into them voting against their own benefits. Here are the big 3:

1. They vote like their bosses, because they hold on to the dream that one day they will be the boss. They vote to give millionaires breaks because they are told that if they work hard, they are just a few paychecks away from becoming millionaires themselves. The GOP knows this, and preys on it. Statistically, they never do make it. Which leads into reason 2:

2. They hear comments about the “47%” who collect from government entitlement programs. And even though they themselves are on Medicare, Social Security and have food stamps, they don’t believe Romney was talking about them. And those that do know they fall in that group, will still vote against their economic needs because:

3. They care more about social issues than economic ones. They will vote to make marriage Man+Woman only. They will vote to make abortion illegal no matter what. The rest of the issues they do not care about until they lock those down first.